I'm flabbergasted that MFDs haven't made more inroads in automotive and computer input device applications. We even have decent HUDs in cars now, but no MFDs. I'm convinced a good MFD would be far superior to the typical touchscreen crap - if Tesla had a MFD and a HUD instead of the giant TV screen, I would have bought one by now.
I think it's because the MFD model is designed for trained pilots who have to take a test to use them, i.e. I'd love one, but I can just imagine the complaints about the different pages and things like that.
Also, I'd love one for home automation too. There's only so much data you need to display or enter so the reduced latency of a dumb screen going straight into the back of a internet connected SBC (or even microcontroller) could be really nice to have in the kitchen, rather than having to fiddle around with either just a phone or what would end up being a tablet bolted to a wall.
The head-unit in my Ford Focus (2004-ish?) had an MFD. Parallax was a bit of an issue (which buttons were for which function looked different from passenger and driver seat). I rate it as just "okay." The one place it was clearly better than touchscreen was for selecting the radio-station from a list of "favorites." Each station was always on the same button, so switching was simple.
Note that this was for controlling the audio system only; this predates integrated "infotainment" center stacks.
